Could a bad meal really get in the way of Google’s plans for world domination?
While Google has taken on an ambitious project to bring high-speed access to the masses, the smudge may be on them for not cleaning up the search results on their brilliant sewer-system based high speed.
In fact a search of google+high+speed+internet revealed this result in 2nd place.
Search Results
Good stuff.
This past winter, I got a Kindle 2. I had my eye one for a while, and having compared the available options (including the Nook by B&N and Sony’s selection as well as some other cloned varieties), I took the plunge.
With the recent iPad release, and the unfair comparisons or predictions that it would replace the Kindle – I thought it timely to do a review of features and overall experience of what is uniquely a book replacement device.
Now this isn’t a multi-media device (though it does do music, more on that), nor is it designed for heavy web browsing (while it can do simple textual browsing). More importantly, it was designed for a very specific audience – book readers – who want access to new releases in near real-time, or don’t want to lug a library on those long-haul trips.
On to the good stuff.
It comes in a nice lean eco-conscious package just large enough for it. But it was in perfect shape. The package includes detailed instructions (also digitally loaded on the Kindle) and a USB cable / power dongle combo a la the iPhone.
I cannot read the gallery's xml file: /homepages/39/d219346360/htdocs/wwwvijia/wp-content/photos/unbox/gallery.xmlBoasting a slim profile, this device is sleek and slick, with a brushed aluminium back, power slide switch and a headphone jack. The most surprising thing initially, is the weight of this reader. It is very light and yet fits ergonomically in either hand. One can see using this device for hours on end without too much hand/arm fatigue.
I cannot read the gallery's xml file: /homepages/39/d219346360/htdocs/wwwvijia/wp-content/photos/device/gallery.xmlThe buttons are firm to the touch, but in a very solid way and they seem built to withstand some abuse. Additionally, in a tip of the hat to lefties, pagination can now be managed on either side of the device. The 5-way switch is a common feature in most modern electronics, and the Kindle is no exception. Only tiny gripe is that the push-down feel of the 5-way seems a little squishy. The keyboard is well spaced, not the most ergonomic (RIM, maker of the popular BlackBerry smart-phone still holds the record on that.) But then again, how much typing are you planning on doing?
I cannot read the gallery's xml file: /homepages/39/d219346360/htdocs/wwwvijia/wp-content/photos/buttons/gallery.xmlThe device comes somewhat charged and will get you going, though charging it is recommended. The convenient USB cable / power dongle combo makes charging a snap whether at an outlet or using a USB powered connection. The light turns from an amber to green to indicate that charging is complete. Of course if you let it go long enough, you’ll eventually run it down, but the nice thing about the display technology is that last screen always stays up.
I cannot read the gallery's xml file: /homepages/39/d219346360/htdocs/wwwvijia/wp-content/photos/charge/gallery.xmlNow to the meat of things – how does it compare to a good ol’ paperback? It beats the pants off it. In so many ways. Pictures of the screens, one of the best carrying cases and more, in the next post.
Too many former big-advertising-turned-digital have a lot of the old team structures in place. But lately, even the up and comer digital agencies have assimilated similar org charts. I’m speaking specifically about the role project management plays in the success of a digital campaign.
All to often, the emphasis is on creative and account management, that the essentials of any business – making money – fall by the wayside. The person best positioned to manage the effectiveness of the project team and handle the myriad of fires that can come up.
This Andy Gould post on AdAge sums it up best.
“Project managers, project managers, project managers. Digital work can be so much more complex to produce than, say, a TV spot, and project managers are the glue that holds it all together. Trust me, with so many moving pieces, it’s helpful to have someone whose sole focus is getting every job done on time and on budget. ” -excerpeted
All those AEs and Marketing folks may think they are doing a bang up job running a schedule, but project management is so much more than that. After all, you don’t ask a PM to push pixels do you? (no offense to those PMs who moonlight as awesome pixel pushers)
Now that doesn’t mean you or your organization should get mired in process-land, and spend more time creating paper than actually being effective. The best project managers know how to use the tools to get the job done most effectively, and don’t use process as a crutch. And it doesn’t matter if you are a serialist (waterfalls) or an agilist (SCRUM etc.), people remember when process works and when it doesn’t – not what process name was used.
We crave order. We organize chaos. We herd cats. We crack whips. We’re the conductors of the orchestra; when we’re allowed to do our thing well – it’s positively symphonic. But when the french horn is trying to supplant the first violin – don’t e surprised when we say no.
Think you can handle it? Up for the challenge? Take the plunge. Volunteer to lead a project under the guidance of a seasoned PM. It may mean long nights, lots of sympathetic ears and absorbing the friction when things heat up. But it can also mean basking in the afterglow of a beautifully executed masterpiece. There’s something masochistically special about it. Or as Chuck Lorre would say, we fuv it.
Born out of the need to create self shutting-off outlet for appliances that generate heat (e.g. curling iron or space heater), I tied a power outlet to a timer switch.
But it raised the question, shouldn’t all heat generating devices be set to turn off at a fixed interval. Say and hour or so. Isn’t the minimized risk of fire worth the hassle of turning a device back on after an hour. Especially for devices that aren’t typically used for more than an hour at a stretch.
Now you could get even more advanced by introducing an accelerometer into the device, that starts the timer when the device is not in motion for a set period of time. After all space heaters already have a tip-sensing shutoff built in.
So I say to heat producing device manufacturers of all ilk, why not implement these safety features. We could all use a few less house fires.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now. Though in this case, I suppose I have hacked a solution.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn off the water while soaping up in the shower and turn it back on and not have to brace for cold or hot as the mixers re-blend the water? More people would turn the water off while soaping and collectively contribute a little bit to the environment.
Now this is a novel idea, especially if there are kids in the house, though it got mixed reviews but it doesn’t quite solve the problem.
There are some industrial-application solutions out there, and yet more (PDF). But there are 2 issues with these, they are not shower heads and they require significant plumbing effort to implement, not to mention being cost prohibitive for the average user.
This low-flow head which combines the lowest flow and best price I’ve seen, does a pretty dandy job of conserving water. The bonus, the lever at the top allows you to turn water off, which does in many ways solve the problem. Though it’s a tad inconvenient, especially with soapy hands and all.
There has got to be a slightly more elegant solution out there, that combines the water saving, temperature sensing, instant on/off capabilities with a solenoid valve to regulate the flow of water.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now.
Its that time of year again. No not winter or holidays, I’m talking open enrollment.
It continues to amaze me how awfully cumbersome and complex it is just navigating the health insurnce maze. Let alone going to get care. What with co-payments and co-insurance, deductibles and annual maximums, its a wonder how people know what’s covered. I suppose that’s what healthcare reform is about.
What we need is a plan decoder. Whether its comparing multiple plans at work or freelance gig, or that of a spouse / domestic partner – a single tool that let’s you compare the key factors. And calculate break-even costs, and even do scenario projection.
And it would be great if it would list out the fine print – pre-approvals etc.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now.
I shop online, a lot, but one thing that has always bothered me is the inadequacy of filtering options.
Even Amazon, which I treat as the standard-bearer for all things user experience, leaves something to be desired. Take an esoteric search like headphones. I want to be able to filter from my immediate result set by –
… and finally, the ability to check a box per product to add it to a comparison / feature analysis list. Now yes I can already hear some people say that Amazon’s wish list or listmania widget does this – but not quite in the way I’m looking. I want to be able to temporarily compare a few sets of products, but also have my comparison selections (and that of all the other shoppers) be analyzed and data-mined in the way Amazon does so well. Oh and sortable please. Every filter field should also be a sortable field in the results.
This would then drive the next generation of filtering, based on comparison criteria shoppers have defined. I care about this far, far more than which department it’s from. I can’t help that headphones are taxonomized within clothing or musical instruments. Related, perhaps, relevant to my search, not as much.
Now I’m not lambasting Amazon, they’ve got some features down, others retailers/e-tailers have got other things right. Like NewEgg. A hard drive search yields a veritable smogasbord of filter options. But no price self-ranging or reviews. And Staples has a very cool Select Multiple option, though I wish it was the default. And please, no drop-down to select filter options. I don’t want to have to double the number of steps I take.
The holy grail thus far – PriceGrabber – these guys have done an amazing job. What can they improve? Expand all option for the facets, add user reviews to filtering (see note above about reviews), and price range to include shipping estimates. An expanded merchant list would be great, some of those heavy-hitters are not yet included.
Now if I was one of those venerable search engines offering shopping results, these are features I might implement to expedite the user’s shopping experience. Google does a pretty good job, but again multi-select (so I can pick my 3 e-tailers of choice) and factoring in shipping.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now.
So the ubiquitous ‘Share This’ is here to stay. Everyone from the big-box to the local mom & pop stores are now using it. It’s great, love the concept – if you like it and you know me and think I’d like it, you tell me about it.
Someone sends me something, I check it, it’s cool. That’s all dandy. Then another friend sends it. And another, and another. I get it, it’s a great thing, but how do I stop the barrage.
What is needed is a ‘Don’t Share’ feature to accompany a site, tool or app. Once you’ve seen it, and you know all there possibly is to know about it, you click it and are never to be bothered again. No matter how cool everyone else thinks it is.
Concerned about privacy, it really doesn’t compromise your privacy any more than those friends who share things with you. The marketers get your email address anyway, why not make it work for you.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now.
So I’ve wondered for a while now, iPhone has accelerometer, so does Wii controller.
Closest it seems like it has come is this cool video of a WiiMote updating iphone built on open-source bluetooth stack extender. Or perhaps this iFun app that let’s you play PC games. Or this one.
Cool as those are, not so functional when you’re having a party, 2 people are going at it on your only 2 controllers. Meanwhile everyone’s got an iPhone and a serious jonesing for a Super Mario Bros show-down.
Why aren’t Nintendo/Apple partnering for some exclusive deal on a Wii controller app. Apple gets to tap into the Wii games share (admittedly not quite so huge) and Nintendo gets a controller in everyone’s packets. Mobile avatars and potential customers abound.
As with all of my Why Hasn’t Someone Done This? posts, I do hope someone can prove me wrong and show me that this actually exists somewhere. Or some enterprising person is hacking together a kludge for now.
He came up with Mailinator which is conceptually simple yet absolutely brilliant at what it does.
The gist – you go to some random site, they force you to register (sometime later I’ll talk about why I don’t think this is a good idea). Dang, which free email account do I use for spam again. Well never again. You just sign-up with anything@mailinator.com. No pre-registering with Mailinator, no passwords, nothing. Then pop over to mailinator.com, type in your created name – and BAM! – you’ve got that ebook, or software or whatever it is someone decided filling their CRM database with spam was woth doing.
Now some site may block it, like say Facebook but there nifty ways around it. (You would think they learned their lesson with the bugmenot incident)
Oh and he’s running this on a computer in his bedroom. Ok not quite, but it is still a very elegant and light setup.
So I say to you Paul, bravo. If only my college roommate’s late night rantings could be so profound and so technologically efficiently executed. You’ve made the world a better place.